Lleyton Hewitt's exit at Wimbledon on Wednesday was greeted with regret by his dedicated supporters in SW19 as Australia's summer of woe continued.

The 2002 champion was defeated in four sets by the impressive German qualifier Dustin Brown, leaving only Bernard Tomic and Samantha Stosur in the draw for Australia.

Hewitt insisted afterwards that he hopes to return to Wimbledon next year, although the former world No1 has slipped to No70 in the rankings and at 32 is entering the twilight of his career.

However, the Australian still has fighting spirit in abundance and vowed to return. "It's frustrating obviously," he said. "I just couldn't really get my teeth into the match you know, I didn't serve great. I was just off balance a lot of times out there.

"He [Brown] played well though, he's very unpredictable out there. He served well, especially when he needed to on break points. I didn't quite get a look in."

When asked if he would be back, Hewitt added: "Yeah, definitely, we'll see. At the moment I'm just disappointed and I'll have to see where we go."

Australian supporters clad in gold and green were roaring Hewitt on at Court Two and the group known as "Fanatics" admitted their disappointment after the match, although they remained bullish about their country's sporting prowess.

"There is no reason why Lleyton should retire," said Ian Fitzpatrick from Melbourne. "Australian sport is as good as it's always been, there was a small loss in the rugby at the weekend by two points and the cricket is a shame, but you can only have so many great players for so long.

"We're probably a bit down at the moment mate, but it's only a matter of time before we're back."

Russell Watson from Perth added: "Don't worry about the cricket, [Ricky] Ponting will get a call up with Mike Hussey, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath.

"Dustin Brown played pretty well and did his homework on Lleyton with plenty of big hitting. But Lleyton Hewitt is a battler."

The Fanatics will be hoping that Tomic can overcome James Blake in the second round on Thursday while Stosur plays the Russian Olga Puchkova.